Flexible printed circuit board with component mounting section for mounting electronic component and flexible cables extending in different directions from the component mounting section, and method of manufacturing the same

ABSTRACT

A method of manufacturing a flexible printed circuit board that includes a component mounting section having lands, a plurality of flexible cable sections having wirings and extending in different directions from the component mounting section, and a connection section having terminals connected with the land through the wiring, the method including manufacturing partial FPCs in a sheet in a unit of a partial FPC that includes a partial component mounting section that is a part of the component mounting section, a cable section extending from the partial component mounting section, and a connection section disposed in the cable section, cutting out the partial FPC from the sheet, performing an alignment using alignment targets of the partial FPC and a support plate so that the partial component mounting sections of respective partial FPCs configure the component mounting section, and fixing the partial FPCs onto the support plate.

This is a national stage of PCT/JP10/071898 filed Dec. 7, 2010 andpublished in Japanese, which claims the priority of Japanese number2010-167411 filed Jul. 26, 2010, hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a printed circuit board and a method ofmanufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a flexible printedcircuit board having a plurality of cable sections that extend indifferent directions from a component mounting section for mounting anelectronic component and a method of manufacturing the same.

BACKGROUND ART

In recent years, electronic components have been becoming more and moreminiaturized and high functional. For this reason, demands for adensified printed circuit board or an electronic component mountedthereon are increasing. Particularly, in a package component used in aportable device, for example a chip size package (CSP), the number ofpins increases, and a pitch between pins is getting narrow. For example,in the case of a sensor module in which many sensors are integrated, thenumber of pins is proportional to the number of sensors, and the numberof pins ranges from several hundreds to several thousands. Further, apitch between pins has gotten narrow up to about 500 μm.

As a flexible printed circuit board that is advantageous in mounting apackage component having many pins and a narrow pitch such as the CSP, aso-called step via structure has been known (for example, PatentDocument 1). The overall manufacturing method thereof is as follows.

First, a fine wiring is formed on a core substrate that is an innerlayer, and thereafter a build-up layer that is an outer layer is stackedon the core substrate. A step via hole of a step form composed of anupper hole having a large diameter and a lower hole having a smalldiameter is formed by a conformal laser process. Thereafter, a platingprocess is performed on an inner wall of the step via hole, so that astep via functioning as an interlayer conductive path is formed. Byemploying the step via structure, a wiring of the outer layer can beminiaturized, and thus a flexible printed circuit board that isadvantageous in mounting a package component having many pins and anarrow pitch can be obtained.

However, in the case of the above described sensor module, the pins ofthe sensor module are installed to output signals of the sensorsassociated with the pins. For this reason, the flexible printed circuitboard for mounting the sensor module needs to have many fine wirings forelectrically connecting the pins of the sensor module to terminalsinstalled in a contact section connected with an external device.Further, according to a use form of the flexible printed circuit board,there is a case in which it is necessary to draw out a plurality ofcable sections including the wirings in different directions from amounting area of an electric component. An example of such a flexibleprinted circuit board will be described in detail with reference to thedrawings.

FIG. 7(1) is a plan view of a conventional flexible printed writingboard 44 on which an electronic component having many pins with a narrowpitch are mounted. FIG. 7(2) is a cross-sectional view taken along lineA-A of FIG. 7(1). However, these drawings do not illustrate an internalstructure of a component mounting section 41.

As illustrated in FIG. 7(1), the flexible printed circuit board 44includes a component mounting section 41 for mounting an electroniccomponent thereon, a plurality of flexible cable sections 42respectively extending in up, down, right, and left directions from thecomponent mounting section 41, and connection sections 43 respectivelyinstalled at forefronts of the flexible cable sections 42.

The component mounting section 41 has a plurality of lands 41 a forbeing bonded with pins of the electronic component such as a sensormodule.

The flexible cable section 42 has flexibility and extends in apredetermined direction from the component mounting section 41. Further,the flexible cable section 42 has a plurality of fine wirings (notshown) for electrically connecting the land 41 a with a terminal 43 a ofthe connection section 43.

The connection section 43 has a plurality of terminals 43 a for aconnection with an external device.

Each of the plurality of terminals 43 a is electrically connected withthe land 41 a corresponding thereto through the wiring of the flexiblecable section 42.

Next, a state in which an electronic component is mounted on theflexible printed circuit board. 44 will be described with reference toFIG. 8.

FIG. 8(1) is an enlarged plan view of the component mounting section 41on which an electronic component 45 is mounted, and FIG. 8(2) is across-sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 8(1). As illustratedin FIG. 8(2), a pin (solder ball) 45 a of the electronic component 45 isbonded with a corresponding land 41 a of the component mounting section41.

As can be seen from FIG. 8(2), a wiring 46 for electrically connectingthe land 41 a with the terminal 43 a is installed between step vias 47and 47 that are used for interlayer connection.

The electronic component 45 is, for example, a sensor module, and inthis case, a signal of a sensor included in the sensor module is outputfrom the pin 45 a and transmitted to the terminal 43 a through the land41 a, the step via 47, and the wiring 46.

Incidentally, in an actual process of manufacturing a flexible printedcircuit board, a sheet of a predetermined size comparting a longmaterial (for example, a copper-clad laminated sheet having a copperfoil on an insulating film) is used as a process target unit of variousprocesses. Thus, manufacturing is performed in a state in which aplurality of flexible printed circuit boards are arranged in a sheetaccording to a predetermined layout. How to arrange the flexible printedcircuit boards in the sheet (i.e., a sheet layout) is decided inadvance. FIG. 9 is a plan view of a sheet 48 having 9 flexible printedcircuit boards 44 manufactured according to a predetermined layout.

As can be seen from FIG. 9, since the area of the flexible printedcircuit board 44 is large and the flexible cable sections 42 areinstalled to extend in up, down, right, and left directions from thecomponent mounting section 41, a degree of freedom of the sheet layoutis limited, and it is difficult to arrange the flexible printed circuitboard 44 s in a more efficient fashion within the sheet 48.

As described above, in the past, it was impossible to achieve theefficient sheet layout due to the restriction attributable to the outershape of the flexible printed circuit board or the like. As a result, ithas been difficult to reduce the manufacturing cost of the flexibleprinted circuit board.

Further, in the past, in addition to the above described sheet layoutproblem, there has been a problem that a yield decreases due to a wiringfailure. This will be described using an example of the flexible printedcircuit board 44. As described above, a plurality of wirings 46 areinstalled between the step vias 47, but since the electronic component45 has significantly many pins, a pitch of the wiring 46 becomes finerto the most extent as a wiring pitch installed in the flexible printedcircuit board 44. For example, when an interval of inner layer lands 41b installed on the same layer as the wiring 46 is 200 μm and 6 wiringsare installed between the inner layer lands 41 b as illustrated in FIG.8(2), the wiring pitch is just about 30 μm. It is necessary to form afine wiring pitch for a wiring pitch in the flexible cable section 42 aswell as the component mounting section 41.

In forming a wiring, when a foreign substance whose size is almost equalto or more than an interval between wirings sticks to a wiring area oran exposure mask, a wiring failure occurs. For this reason, the largerthe wiring area is, the higher the probability that wiring failure willbe caused by sticking of the foreign substance is, and thus the lowerthe yield is.

As described above, an area of the flexible printed circuit board 44 inwhich the fine wiring ranges over the flexible cable section 42 as wellas the component mounting section 41. It is not actually easy to formthe fine wiring in an area having the relatively large area size withoutany defect, and thus a reduction in the yield has been unavoidable inthe related art.

The problems of the related art have been described in connection withthe example of the multi-layer flexible printed circuit board having thestep via structure, but the above problems of the sheet layout and theyield are not caused by the step via structure or the multi-layerstructure.

Further, a technique related to a so-called replacement substrate hasbeen disclosed in the past (Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3).When a failure occurs on an aggregated substrate composed of a pluralityof unit substrates, by selectively replacing a defective unit substratewith a good one, the aggregated substrate becomes a good product. Thus,it can be understood that the above-described problem cannot be solvedby this technique.

CITATION LIST Patent Documents

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No.2007-128970

Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No.2008-235745

Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No.2010-40949

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention

An object of the present invention is to allow an efficient sheet layoutand thus to improve the yield in manufacturing a flexible printedcircuit board having a plurality of cable sections that extend indifferent directions from a component mounting section.

Means for Solving the Problems

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a method ofmanufacturing a flexible printed circuit board is provided whichincludes a component mounting section for mounting an electroniccomponent and a plurality of flexible cable sections extending indifferent directions from the component mounting section, the methodincluding manufacturing a plurality of partial flexible printed circuitboards in a predetermined sheet in a unit of the partial flexibleprinted circuit board including a partial component mounting sectionformed by dividing the component mounting section into the predeterminednumber of parts and a flexible cable section extending from the partialcomponent mounting section among the plurality of flexible cablesections, cutting an area including the partial flexible printed circuitboard away from the sheet, performing a positional alignment of thepredetermined number of partial flexible printed circuit boards suchthat the predetermined number of partial component mounting sections arecombined to configure the component mounting section, and fixing thepredetermined number of aligned partial flexible printed circuit boardsto a support plate.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a flexibleprinted circuit board is provided which includes a predetermined numberof partial flexible printed circuit boards, each of which includes apartial component mounting section formed by dividing a componentmounting section for mounting an electronic component into thepredetermined number of parts and a flexible cable section extendingfrom the partial component mounting section, and a support plate whichfixes the predetermined number of partial flexible printed circuitboards in such a manner that the predetermined number of partialcomponent mounting sections are combined to configure the componentmounting section.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a method ofmanufacturing a flexible printed circuit board is provided whichincludes manufacturing a plurality of first partial flexible printedcircuit boards, each including a first partial component mountingsection having a first land formed on a surface thereof and a flexiblecable section extending from the first partial component mountingsection, manufacturing a plurality of second partial flexible printedcircuit boards, each including a second partial component mountingsection having a second land formed on a surface thereof and aninterlayer conduction path electrically connected with the second landand a flexible cable section extending from the second partial componentmounting section, forming a lower flexible printed circuit board byperforming an positional alignment so that the first partial componentmounting sections of the two first partial flexible printed circuitboard can configure a lower component mounting section and then fixingthe two first partial flexible printed circuit boards onto a supportplate, forming an upper flexible printed circuit board by performing apositional alignment so that the second partial component mountingsections of the two second partial flexible printed circuit board canconfigure an upper component mounting section and then fixing the twosecond partial flexible printed circuit boards onto an anisotropicconductive film containing a conductive particle, and forming acomponent mounting section including the upper component mountingsection and the lower component mounting section in which the first landis electrically connected with the second land positioned directlythereon through the conductive particle and the interlayer conductionpath by placing the upper flexible printed circuit board on the lowerflexible printed circuit board and applying heat and pressure thereto.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a flexibleprinted circuit board is provided which includes: a support plate; afirst partial flexible printed circuit board including a first partialcomponent mounting section having a first land formed on a surfacethereof and a first interlayer conduction path electrically connectedwith the first land, and a flexible cable section extending from thefirst partial component mounting section; and a second partial flexibleprinted circuit board including a second partial component mountingsection having a second land formed on a surface thereof and a secondinterlayer conduction path electrically connected with the second land,and a flexible cable section extending from the second partial componentmounting section; in which a lower component mounting section configuredsuch that the two first partial component mounting sections are arrangedon the same plane is fixed onto the support plate, an upper componentmounting section configured such that the two second partial componentmounting sections are arranged on the same plane is stacked on the lowercomponent mounting section through an anisotropic conductive layerhaving a conductive particle therein, and the first land is electricallyconnected with the second land positioned directly thereon through theconductive particle and the second interlayer conduction path.

Effects of the Invention

The present invention has the following effects due to these features.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a plurality ofpartial flexible printed circuit boards are manufactured in a sheet on aunit basis, each unit including a partial component mounting sectionformed by dividing a component mounting section for mounting anelectronic component into the predetermined number of parts and aflexible cable section extending from the partial component mountingsection. For this reason, the area size of the manufacturing unitdecreases, and the number of extending directions of the flexible cablesections decreases. Thus, a degree of freedom of the sheet layout isenhanced, and the efficient sheet layout is allowed. As a result, thenumber of flexible printed circuit boards obtained from one sheet canincrease.

Further, since manufacturing is performed in a unit of a partialflexible printed circuit board having an area size smaller than anoriginal flexible printed circuit board, parts that should be discardedwhen a wiring failure or the like occurs decreases. As a result, theyield can be improved.

Further, the partial flexible printed circuit board is cut from thesheet, and thereafter a predetermined number of partial flexible printedcircuit boards are aligned so that a predetermined number of partialcomponent mounting sections can be combined to configure a componentmounting section and then fixed to a support plate. Thus, the flexibleprinted circuit board having the same function as the conventional artcan be obtained.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, by configuringthe component mounting section of the flexible printed circuit board attwo stages of an upper component mounting section and a lower componentmounting section, the number of wirings formed in one partial componentmounting section decreases. Thus, the wiring density can be alleviated,and a failure caused by wiring formation can decrease.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1(1) is a plan view of a flexible printed circuit board accordingto a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1(2) is across-sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 1(1).

FIG. 2(1) is an enlarged plan view illustrating a state in which anelectronic component is mounted on a component mounting sectionaccording to the first embodiment, and FIG. 2(2) is a cross-sectionalview taken along line A-A of FIG. 2(1).

FIG. 3A is a process cross-sectional view illustrating a method ofmanufacturing a flexible printed circuit board according to the firstembodiment.

FIG. 3B is a process cross-sectional view illustrating a method ofmanufacturing a flexible printed circuit board according to the firstembodiment, subsequent to FIG. 3A.

FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating a plurality of partial flexibleprinted circuit boards, which is manufactured in a sheet, according tothe first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a partial flexible printed circuit boardcontaining an unnecessary area, which is cut from a sheet, according tothe first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanation view of an alignment method of a partialflexible printed circuit board according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7(1) is a plan view of a conventional flexible printed writingboard, and FIG. 7(2) is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A ofFIG. 7(1).

FIG. 8(1) is an enlarged plan view illustrating a state in which anelectronic component 45 is mounted on a component mounting section, andFIG. 8(2) is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 8(1).

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a plurality of conventional flexible printedcircuit boards manufactured in a sheet.

FIG. 10(1) is a plan view of a flexible printed circuit board accordingto a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 10(2) is across-sectional view taken along line C-C of FIG. 10(1).

FIG. 11(1) is an enlarged plan view illustrating a state in which anelectronic component is mounted on a component mounting sectionaccording to the second embodiment, and FIG. 11(2) is a cross-sectionalview taken along line C-C of FIG. 11(1).

FIG. 12A is a process cross-sectional view illustrating a method ofmanufacturing a flexible printed circuit board according to the secondembodiment.

FIG. 12B is a process cross-sectional view illustrating a method ofmanufacturing a flexible printed circuit board according to the secondembodiment, subsequent to FIG. 12A.

FIG. 13 is a plan view illustrating a plurality of partial flexibleprinted circuit boards, which are manufactured in a sheet, according tothe second embodiment.

FIG. 14A is a plan view illustrating aligned partial flexible printedcircuit boards according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 14B is a plan view illustrating aligned partial flexible printedcircuit boards according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view of a flexible printed circuit boardaccording to a modification of the second embodiment.

FIG. 16(1) is a plan view of a conventional flexible printed circuitboard, and FIG. 16(2) is a plan view illustrating a plurality ofconventional flexible printed circuit boards manufactured in a sheet.

BEST MODE(S) FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, two embodiments according to the present invention will bedescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings,components having the same function are denoted by the same symbols, anda description of components having the same symbol will not be repeated.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1(1) is a plan view of a flexible printed circuit board 6 accordingto a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1(2) is across-sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 1(1). As can be seenfrom FIGS. 1(1) and 1(2), the flexible printed circuit board 6 includesleft and right partial flexible printed circuit boards (partial FPC) 4and a support plate 5 and has the same function as the above describedflexible printed circuit board 44.

The two partial flexible printed circuit boards 4 are fixed onto thesupport plate 5 in a state in which partial component mounting sections1A are aligned with high accuracy and combined to configure a componentmounting section 1 for mounting an electronic component. At this point,in terms of a correspondence with the above described conventionalflexible printed circuit board 44, the partial flexible printed circuitboard 4 corresponds to left or right part of the flexible printedcircuit board 44 which is divided into two parts, keeping an internalwiring from being cut apart.

As illustrated in FIG. 1(1), the partial flexible printed circuit board4 includes a partial component mounting section 1A, three flexible cablesections 2 that extend in up, down, and left (or right) directions fromthe partial component mounting section 1A, connection sections 3respectively installed at leading ends of the flexible cable sections 2.

The partial component mounting section 1A includes a plurality of lands1 a for being bonded with pins of an electronic component such as asensor module. The partial component mounting section 1A is left orright part of the component mounting section 1 divided into two parts.Thus, the component mounting section 1 is configured by combining thetwo partial component mounting sections 1A.

The flexible cable section 2 has flexibility and extends from thepartial component mounting section 1A in a predetermined direction. Theflexible cable section 2 has a plurality of fine wirings (not shown)that electrically connect the lands 1 a with terminals 3 a of theconnection section 3.

The connection section 3 is, for example, a connector and has aplurality of terminals 3 a for connection with an external device. Theplurality of terminals 3 a are electrically connected with the lands 1 aassociated therewith through the wirings of the flexible cable section2, respectively.

FIG. 2(1) is an enlarged plan view illustrating a state in which anelectronic component 7 such as a sensor module is mounted on thecomponent mounting section 1 including the two partial mounting sections1A fixed to the support plate 5. FIG. 2(2) is a cross-sectional viewtaken along line A-A of FIG. 2(1). As illustrated in FIG. 2(2), a pin(solder ball) 7 a of the electronic component 7 is bonded to the land 1a.

As can be seen from FIG. 2(2), a wiring 8 for electrically connectingthe land 1 a with the terminal 3 a is installed between step vias 9 and9 that are used for interlayer connection.

The electronic component 7 is, for example, a sensor module, and in thiscase, a signal of a sensor included in the sensor module is output fromthe pin 7 a and transmitted to the terminal 3 a through the land 1 a,the step via 9, and the wiring 8. The connection section 3 in which theterminal 3 a is installed may be connected with a printed circuit board(not shown) that processes a sensor signal.

The support plate 5 fixes the left and right two partial flexibleprinted circuit boards 4A so that the two partial component mountingsections 1A can be combined to configure the component mounting section1. As illustrated in FIG. 2(2), as the support plate 5, a coverlayhaving an insulating film 5 a and an adhesive material layer 5 b thereonmay be used.

As a material of the support plate 5, an aramid resin film having anadhesive layer is preferably used. It is because the aramid resin filmhas small thermal expansion coefficient, and thus the aramid resin filmdoes not nearly expand during a heating process for bonding the partialflexible printed circuit boards 4 with the support plate 5 and can alsoretain flexibility. As the support plate 5, a material less expandingand contracting is preferably used in order to prevent a misalignmentcaused by the heating process during bonding and by a mechanical stressduring handling. For example, a polyimide film or a liquid crystalpolymer film may be used as the insulating film 5 a.

Next, a method of manufacturing the flexible printed circuit board 6according to the present embodiment will be described with reference tothe drawings.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are process cross-sectional views illustrating a methodof manufacturing the flexible printed circuit board 6.

(1) First, prepared is a flexible double-side copper-clad laminatedsheet 14 in which a copper foil 12 and a copper foil 13 (each of whichhas, for exam, the thickness of 1 μm) are disposed on both sides of aflexible insulating base material (for example, the thickness of 25 μm)made of, for example, a polyimide film. Then, as illustrated in FIG.3A(1), on a predetermined sheet of the long double-side copper-cladlaminated sheet 14, plating resist layers 15A and 15B are formed on thecooper foil 12 positioned on an inner layer side and the cooper foil 13positioned on an outer layer side, respectively. The plating resistlayers 15A and 15B are used to form a desired conductive film pattern bya semi-additive technique.

The plating resist layer 15B is a plating resist layer for forming alaser shielding mask, which functions when forming a step via hole by alaser process later, by the semi-additive technique. Further, thethickness of the plating resist layer 15B is preferably about 1.2 to 2times the thickness of a wiring layer to be formed. Here, the designthickness of the wiring is set to 10 μm, and the thickness of theplating resist layer 15B is set to 15 μm.

(2) Next, an electrolyte copper plating process is performed on bothsides of the double-side copper-clad laminated sheet 14 on which theplating resist layers 15A and 15B are formed. As a result, as can beseen from FIG. 3A(2), electrolyte copper plating layers 16 and 17 areformed on portions of the copper foils 12 and 13 exposed throughopenings of the plating resist layers 15A and 15B, respectively. Here,the electrolyte copper plating layers 16 and 17 are set to 10 μm inthickness, respectively. After the electrolyte copper plating process,the plating resist layers 15A and 15B are removed, and the copper foils12 and 13 (seed layers) that are no covered with the electrolyte platinglayers 16 and 17 are removed by so-called flash etching.

Through the processes up to this point, a double-side circuit basematerial 20 illustrated in FIG. 3A(2) is obtained. Conformal masks 18and 19, which function as laser shielding masks when the step via holeis formed later, have been formed on the top surface and the backsurface of the double-side circuit base material 20. The conformal mask18 becomes a mask for forming an upper hole of the step via hole, andthe conformal mask 19 becomes a mask for forming a lower hole of thestep via hole. The formal masks 18 and 19 are, for example, φ100 μm andφ70 μm in diameter, respectively. Further, a plurality of fine wirings 8have been formed on the back side of the double-side circuit basematerial 20. 6 wirings 8 are installed between the inner layer lands 1b, and a wiring pitch is, for example, 30 μm.

(3) Next, a single-side copper-clad laminated sheet 23 having a copperfoil 22 (for example, the thickness of 12 μm) is prepared on one side ofthe flexible insulating base material 21 (for example, a polyimide filmhaving the thickness of 25 μm). As illustrated in FIG. 3A(3), thesingle-side copper-clad laminated sheet 23 is laminated on the back sideof the double-side circuit base material 20 through an adhesive materiallayer 24 (for example, the thickness of 15 μm). Further, the adhesivematerial layer 24 is preferably formed by using an adhesive of which aflow index is small, such as prepreg of a low flow type or a bondingsheet.

A multi-layer circuit base material 25 illustrated in FIG. 3A(3) isobtained through the processes up to this point.

(4) Next, as illustrated in FIG. 3A(4), step via holes 26 are formed byirradiating laser light onto the surface of the multi-layer circuit basematerial 25 and performing a conformal laser process using the conformalmasks 18 and 19.

In the laser process technique of the present process, a laser such as aUV-YAG laser, a carbon dioxide laser, or an excimer laser may be used.It is preferable to use the carbon dioxide laser in terms of advantagesof high processing speed and productivity.

As a more detailed process condition, ML605GTXIII-5100 U2 available fromMitsubishi Electric Corporation was used as a carbon dioxide laserprocessing machine. The laser beam diameter was adjusted to 200 μm usinga predetermined aperture or the like. The pulse width was 10 μsec, andthe pulse energy was set to 5 mJ. The laser process was performed underthe condition, an irradiation of 5 shots of a laser pulse for formationof one step via hole.

(5) Next, a desmear process and a conduction process are performed onthe inside of the step via hole 26, and thereafter the electrolytecopper plating process is performed on the whole surface of themulti-layer circuit base material 25 with the step via hole formedtherein. As a result, as can be seen from FIG. 3B(5), an electrolytecopper plating layer 27 is formed on an inner wall (a side and a bottom)of the step via hole 26 and the electrolyte copper layer 17.Accordingly, a step via 9 that functions as an interlayer conductionpath is formed. Further, in order to secure interlayer conduction, thethickness of the electrolyte copper plating layer 27 is set to, forexample, 15 to 20 μm.

In the plating process of the present process, since an open surfacethrough the step via hole 26 is provided only at the top surface side ofthe multi-layer circuit base material 25, so-called single-side platingof performing the plating process only on the open surface of the stepvia hole 26 is performed. For this reason, the electrolyte copperplating layer is not formed on the copper foil 22 on the back side ofthe multi-layer circuit material 25. The single-side plating may beimplemented by forming a plating mask to cover the cooper foil 22 on theback side and thereafter performing the plating process, or may beimplemented by installing a shielding plate in a plating device, aplating jig, or the like and thereafter performing the plating process.By performing the single-side plating rather than the double-sideplating, an extra copper plating film is not formed on the copper foil22, and the film thickness of the copper foil 22 can be prevented fromincreasing. As a result, a fine pattern having a land or the like can beformed by processing the copper foil 22 that remains thin.

Thereafter, as illustrated in FIG. 3B(5), an outer layer pattern 28 andthe land 1 a are formed by processing the electrolyte copper platinglayer 27 and the copper foil 22 into predetermined patterns,respectively, by a photofabrication technique. The photofabricationtechnique refers to a processing technique of patterning a processingtarget layer (copper foil etc.) into a predetermined pattern andincludes a series of processes such as forming a resist layer on aprocessing target layer, exposing, developing, etching a processingtarget layer, and peeling off a resist layer.

At this point, the layout of the partial flexible printed circuit boardsmanufactured in the sheet will be described.

FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating a plurality of partial flexibleprinted circuit boards manufactured in a sheet having the same size asthe above described sheet 48. As can be seen from FIG. 4, the flexiblecable sections 2 of the partial flexible printed circuit board 4 extendsin three directions, that is, up, down, and left directions. On theother hand, in the above described flexible printed circuit board 44,the flexible cable sections 42 extend in four directions, that is, up,down, left, and right directions. That is, the partial flexible printedcircuit board 4 is smaller than the flexible printed circuit board 44 inthe number of extending directions of the flexible cable sections.

Further, the area size of the partial flexible printed circuit board 4is about half the flexible printed circuit board 44.

By arranging the partial flexible printed circuit board 4 that is smallin area size and in number of extending directions of the flexible cablesections inside the sheet 10, the efficient sheet layout can beachieved. As a result, the number of flexible printed circuit boardsobtained from one sheet can increase. Specifically, as illustrated inFIG. 4, in the case of the present embodiment, since 24 partial flexibleprinted circuit boards can be arranged from one sheet 10, it is possibleto obtain a maximum of 12 flexible printed circuit boards 4. Meanwhile,in the above described conventional example, as illustrated in FIG. 9,at the most 9 flexible printed circuit boards can be obtained.

(6) Next, a plurality of partial flexible printed circuit boards 4A arecut apart from the sheet 10 using a mold or the like. As illustrated inFIG. 5, the cut partial flexible printed circuit board 4A includes anarea 4B to be finally removed. That is, the partial flexible printedcircuit board 4 is one obtained by cut away the area 4B along a dottedline of FIG. 5 from the partial flexible printed circuit board 4A.Further, the partial flexible printed circuit board may be cut out in aform containing no area 4B. Further, from a point of view ofproductivity improvement, a plurality of partial flexible printedcircuit boards 4A manufactured in the sheet 10 are preferablycollectively cut out.

A failure judgment is performed on the cut partial flexible printedcircuit board 4A to remove a failure such as a wiring failure.

(7) Next, as illustrated in FIG. 6 and FIG. 3B(6), the alignment of thetwo partial flexible printed circuit boards 4A that have been judged asnon-defective ones is performed by using alignment targets 29 and 30respectively formed on the partial flexible printed circuit boards 4Aand the support plate 5. The alignment targets 29 and 30 may include aguide hole, an alignment mark, or the like formed at a high degree ofaccuracy by a technique which will be described later.

The alignment of the present process needs be performed with highaccuracy so that the two partial component mounting sections 1A canconfigure the component mounting section 1. Specifically, it depends ona type of an electronic component to be mounted, the size thereof, and apitch between pins, but a degree of alignment accuracy of about ±50 μmis usually required.

For this reason, an apparatus having the same function as a chip mounterused during mounting of an electronic component is used for thealignment of the present process. That is, the alignment targets 29 and30 are image-recognized, and the positions of the partial flexibleprinted circuit boards 4A are adjusted so that the alignment targets 29and 30 can overlap each other using the result.

The alignment target 29 is formed by recognizing a predetermined land 1a (for example, a land tae close to a joint part of the partialcomponent mounting sections 1A, see FIG. 6) and performing the laserprocess based on the position of the land 1 ae. By doing so, a requiredaccuracy of alignment can be secured. Further, as illustrated in FIG. 6,the alignment target 29 is formed in the area 4B, but its formationposition is not limited to the area 4B, for example, it may be thepartial component mounting section 1A.

The alignment target 30 of the support plate 5 is formed, for example,at a predetermined position of the support plate 5 by a mold or thelike.

As an alternative technique, the alignment may be performed usingpredetermined lands 1 a as the alignment target without using thealignment targets 29 and 30. That is, the positions of the lands 1 a inthe left and right two partial flexible printed circuit boards 4A areimage-recognized, and the relative positions of the two partial flexibleprinted circuit boards 4A are adjusted so that both can have apredetermined positional relationship (for example, the distance betweenthe lands 1 a and 1 a can become a pitch value between pins). As thepredetermined lands, for example, the lands 1 ae close to the joint partof the left and right partial flexible printed circuit boards 4A may beused.

Meanwhile, as a method of forming the alignment target 29 (the guidehole), the following method can be considered. That is, by using a moldconfigured to have a guide hole formed therein, guide holes of thepartial flexible printed circuit boards 4A may be collectively formed atthe same time when collectively cutting a plurality of partial flexibleprinted circuit boards 4A out from the sheet 10. According to thismethod, since the guide holes are collectively formed, productivityincreases as compared with the above described method of separateformation. However, for example, when the partial flexible printedcircuit board 4A is large, due to a variation in expansion andcontraction of the partial flexible printed circuit boards 4Amanufactured in the sheet 10, the position of the guide hole may bedisplaced from a predetermined position, and so required alignmentaccuracy not be secured. However, in order to secure stable alignmentaccuracy that does not depend on the size or the shape of the partialflexible printed circuit board 4A, it is preferable to form thealignment target individually on the partial flexible printed circuitboard 4A which is cut out from the sheet as described above.

(8) Next, as illustrated in FIG. 3B (7), the two partial flexibleprinted circuit boards 4A are fixed onto the support plate 5. As afixing method, for example, thermocompression bonding is performed inthe case of using a coverlay as the support plate 5.

Thereafter, an unnecessary part including the area 4B in the supportplate 5 is removed using a mold or the like. Further, the alignmenttarget 29 may be used in a process of removing the unnecessary area.

The flexible printed circuit board 6 illustrated in FIG. 1 is obtainedthrough the above described processes.

As described above, the sheet layout is performed in units of partialflexible printed circuit boards, each unit includes a partial componentmounting section that is one of a predetermined number (2 in the presentembodiment) of partial component mounting sections divided from onecomponent mounting section. Thus, the area size of a manufacturing unitdecreases, and the number of extending directions of the flexible cablesection decreases. For this reason, the efficient layout can beachieved. As a result, compared with the conventional art, it ispossible to increase the number of flexible printed circuit boards thatcan be obtained from one sheet. Further, it is possible to reduce sheetmaterials discarded. Thus, it is possible to reduce the manufacturingcost per flexible printed circuit board.

Further, by using, as a manufacturing unit, the partial flexible printedcircuit board having the area size smaller than the original flexibleprinted circuit board, when a formation failure of a wiring or the likeoccurs, it is possible to reduce an affected range thereof compared tothe conventional art. Thus, according to the present embodiment, theyield can improve compared to the conventional art.

For example, in the conventional art, when a foreign substance defectoccurs in 10 spots in one sheet and thus 10 flexible printed circuitboards out of 20 flexible printed circuit boards manufactured from thesheet are defective, the yield is 50%. However, according to the methodof the present embodiment, when a foreign substance defect occurs in10spots in one sheet and thus 10 partial flexible printed circuit boardsout of 40 partial flexible printed circuit boards manufactured in thesheet are defective, the remaining 30 partial flexible printed circuitboards are not defective. Since 15 flexible printed circuit boards areobtained by combining the non-defective partial flexible printed circuitboards, the yield is 75%. That is, in this case, it is possible toreduce a percent defective by half from 50% to 25%.

In the above described example, when the number of non-defective partialflexible printed circuit boards is an odd number, one partial flexibleprinted circuit board remains unused. However, in actual manufacturing,since the non-defective flexible printed circuit boards that are cut outfrom a plurality of sheets can be used in combination, the high yieldcan be maintained.

The first embodiment of the present invention has been described above,but the structure of the flexible printed circuit board according to thepresent embodiment is not limited to the above example. That is, aflexible printed circuit board to which the present embodiment can beapplied may not have the step via structure or may have a single layerstructure.

Further, the support plate 5 may be formed on the whole back surface ofthe partial flexible printed circuit board 4 or may be formed only onthe back side of the component mounting section 1.

Dividing the component mounting section 1 is not limited to dividing thecomponent mounting section 1 into two, left and right, partial componentmounting sections 1A. The component mounting section 1 may be dividedinto two or more in light of the shape of the flexible printed circuitboard, the area size of the fine wiring area, the yield, and the like.For example, in the case of the flexible printed circuit board 6illustrated in FIG. 1, the component mounting section 1 may be dividedusing a set of pins 7 a corresponding to one connection section 3 as aunit. In this case, the component mounting section 1 is divided into 6partial component mounting sections.

Second Embodiment

Before describing a flexible printed circuit board according to a secondembodiment, the flexible printed circuit board of a conventionalmanufacturing method that is functionally the same as the flexibleprinted circuit board according to the second embodiment will bedescribed. FIG. 16(1) is a plan view of a flexible printed circuit board144 according to a conventional manufacturing method. Unlike theflexible printed circuit board 44 described in the first embodiment, theflexible printed circuit board 144 does not include the flexible cablesections 42 that extend from left and right terminals of the componentmounting section 41. That is, as illustrated in FIG. 16(1), in theflexible printed circuit board 144, a total of 4 flexible cable sections42 extend from an upper end and a lower end of the component mountingsection 41. A cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 16(1) isthe same as FIG. 7(2).

FIG. 16(2) is a plan view of a sheet 148 having 9 flexible printedcircuit boards 144 manufactured based on a predetermined layout. As canbe seen from FIG. 16(2), since the area size of the flexible printedcircuit board 144 is large and the flexible cable section 42 is disposedto extend in up and down directions from the component mounting section41, a degree of freedom of the sheet layout is restricted. For thisreason, it is difficult to arrange the flexible printed circuit boards144 in an efficient fashion within the sheet 148.

Next, the flexible printed circuit board according to the secondembodiment will be described. FIG. 10(1) is a plan view of a flexibleprinted circuit board 106 according to the second embodiment, and FIG.10(2) is a cross-sectional view taken along line C-C of FIG. 10(1).

As can be seen from FIGS. 10(1) and 10(2), the flexible printed circuitboard 106 includes a support plate 5, left and right two partialflexible printed circuit boards 104 a fixed to the support plate 5, and2 partial flexible printed circuit boards 104 b stacked on the partialflexible printed circuit boards 104 a through an anisotropic conductivelayer 99.

The partial flexible printed circuit boards 104 a and 104 b includepartial component mounting sections 101A, flexible cable sections 102that extend from the partial component mounting sections 101A,connection sections 103 disposed at leading ends of the flexible cablesections 102, respectively. In the following description, when thepartial flexible printed circuit board 104 a and the partial flexibleprinted circuit board 104 b need not be discriminated from each other,they are described as the partial flexible printed circuit board 104.

As illustrated in FIG. 10(2), a total of 4 partial component mountingsections 101A which are included in the two partial flexible printedcircuit boards 104 a and the two partial flexible printed circuit boards104 b are combined in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction toconfigure the component mounting section 101. That is, a lower componentmounting section is configured by arranging the partial componentmounting sections 101A and 101A of the two partial flexible printedcircuit boards 104 a on the same plane, and an upper component mountingsection is configured by arranging the partial component mountingsections 101A and 101A of the two partial flexible printed circuitboards 104 b on the same plane. The component mounting section 101 isconfigured such that the upper component mounting section is stacked onthe lower component mounting section. Lands 1 a of the upper componentmounting section and the lower component mounting section are the samein arrangement (number and pitch) as the lands 41 a of the componentmounting section 41.

The partial component mounting section 101A includes a plurality oflands 1 a for being bonded with pins of an electronic component such asa sensor module on its top surface. The flexible cable section 102 hasflexibility, extends from the partial component mounting section 101A ina predetermined direction, and has a plurality of fine wirings (notshown) that electrically connect the lands 1 a with terminals 103 a ofthe connection section 103. The connection section 103 (for example, aconnector) has a plurality of terminals 103 a for connection with anexternal device. The plurality of terminals 103 a, are electricallyconnected with the corresponding lands 1 a respectively through thewirings of the flexible cable section 102, respectively.

FIG. 11(1) is an enlarged plan view illustrating a state in which anelectronic component 107 is mounted on the component mounting section101 of the flexible printed circuit board 106. FIG. 11(2) is across-sectional view taken along line C-C of FIG. 11(1). A pin 107 a ofthe electronic component 107 is bonded to the land 1 a of the partialflexible printed circuit board 104 b. The partial flexible printedcircuit board 104 has a step via 9 and a fine wiring 108. The wiring 108is a wiring for electrically connecting the land is with the terminal103 a of the connection section 103 and disposed between the step vias 9and 9.

An anisotropic conductive layer 99 for bonding the partial flexibleprinted circuit board 104 a with the partial flexible printed circuitboard 104 b is formed by heating an anisotropic conductive film 98 inwhich conductive particles 99 a are dispersed. The anisotropicconductive layer 99 has anisotropic conductivity and has bothconductivity and dielectric property. That is, as can been seen fromFIG. 11(2), the conductive particles 99 a included in the anisotropicconductive layer 99 allow an electrical connection in a verticaldirection but an electrical connection in a horizontal direction ishindered. For this reason, the land 1 a of the partial flexible printedcircuit board 104 a is electrically connected with the step via 9 of theflexible printed circuit board 104 b positioned directly thereon, but aninsulated state is maintained on the remaining portions. That is, theland 1 a of the partial flexible printed circuit board 104 b iselectrically connected with the land is of the flexible printed circuitboard 104 a positioned directly thereon through the conductive particle99 a and the step via 9.

Here, a description will be made in connection with the flow of a signalbetween the pin 107 a of the electronic component 107 and the connectionsection 103 of the flexible printed circuit board 106. A signal flowpath is greatly divided into two. In the case of a first path, a signaloutput from the pin 107 a of the electronic component 107 passes throughthe land 1 a, the step via 9, and the wiring 108 formed in the partialflexible printed circuit board 104 b and is transmitted to the terminal103 a through a wiring inside the flexible cable section 102 extendingfrom the partial component mounting section 101A of the partial flexibleprinted circuit board 104 b. In the case of a second path, it passesthrough the partial flexible printed circuit board 104 a. That is, asignal output from the pin 107 a passes through the land is and the stepvia 9 formed in the partial flexible printed circuit board 104 b, passesthrough the land 1 a, the step via 9, and the wiring 8 formed in thepartial flexible printed circuit board 104 a, and is transmitted to theterminal 103 a through a wiring inside the flexible cable section 102extending from the partial component mounting section 101A of thepartial flexible printed circuit board 104 b.

When the electronic component 107 is the sensor module, the pin 107 aand the terminal 103 a have a one-to-one correspondence relationship. Inthis case, in FIG. 11(2), one of the vertically arranged step vias 9 isprovided as a dummy and thus is not actually used.

As can be understood from the above description, the flexible printedcircuit board 106 has the same function as the above described flexibleprinted circuit board 144.

Since the flexible printed circuit board 106 is configured by laminatingthe partial flexible printed circuit boards 104 in two stages includingupper and lower stages, the number of partial component mountingsections is as twice as that of the first embodiment. Thus, the numberof wirings formed in one partial component mounting section decreases,and so the wiring density can be alleviated. Specifically, in the firstembodiment, 6 wirings 8 are disposed between the step vias 9 (see FIG.2(2)), but in the second embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 11(2), 3wirings that are half are disposed betweens the step vias 9. In terms ofa numerical value as an example, in the case where 6 wirings areinstalled between the inner layer lands 1 b disposed at an interval of200 μm, a wiring interval in the present embodiment is 60 μm, whereas itis 30 μm in the first embodiment.

Next, a method of manufacturing the flexible printed circuit board 106according to the present embodiment will be described with reference toFIGS. 12A to 14B.

(1) The partial flexible printed circuit boards 104 a and 104 billustrated in FIG. 12A(1) are obtained through the same processesdescribed with reference to FIGS. 3A(1) to 3A(4) and FIG. 3B(5) in thefirst embodiment. One of different points from the first embodiment isthat the wiring 108 is larger in pitch than the wiring 8. Anotherdifferent point is the sheet layout of the partial flexible printedcircuit boards 104 a and 104 b, which will be described with referenceto FIG. 13.

FIG. 13 is a plan view illustrating the partial flexible printed circuitboards 104 a and 104 b manufactured in a sheet 100 of the same size asthe above described sheet 148. As can be seen from FIG. 13, one flexiblecable section 102 extends from one partial flexible printed circuitboard 104 a or 104 b. The partial flexible printed circuit boards 104 aand 104 b are different in bending direction of the flexible cablesection 102 and thus do not have the same shape.

Further, instead of manufacturing both the partial flexible printedcircuit board 104 a and the partial flexible printed circuit board 104 bin one sheet as illustrated in FIG. 13, the partial flexible printedcircuit board 104 a may be manufactured in one sheet, and the partialflexible printed circuit board 104 a may be manufactured in anothersheet.

Compared to the flexible printed circuit board 144, the partial flexibleprinted circuit board 104 is small in area size and number of extendingdirections of the flexible cable sections. For this reason, it allows anefficient sheet layout of the partial flexible printed circuit boards104 in the sheet 100. As a result, it is possible to increase the numberof flexible printed circuit boards obtained from one sheet.Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 13, 23 partial flexible printedcircuit boards 104 a and 22 partial flexible printed circuit boards 104b can be arranged within one sheet. One flexible printed circuit board106 is configured with the two partial flexible printed circuit boards104 a and the two partial flexible printed circuit boards 104 b. Forthis reason, a maximum of 11 flexible printed circuit boards 106 can beobtained from one sheet. Meanwhile, in the conventional exampleillustrated FIG. 16, a maximum of 9 flexible printed circuit boards canbe obtained.

(2) Next, the partial flexible printed circuit board 104 is cut out fromthe sheet 100 using a mold or the like. As can be seen from FIG. 14A,the cut partial flexible printed circuit board 104 may have the area104B to be provided with the alignment target 129 thereon. The area 104Bis finally removed as will be described later. After cut out from thesheet, the partial flexible printed circuit board 104 is subjected to afailure judgment, and a defective one is removed. In the presentembodiment, since the wiring 108 is as about twice thick as the wiring8, a probability that a failure is caused by wiring formation candecrease by half. Further, as necessary, after the partial flexibleprinted circuit board 104 is cut out, surface processing such as solderplating, nickel plating or gold plating on a terminal surface such as aland section and forming a protective photo-solder resist layer on apart where soldering is unnecessary, and an outward shape processing areperformed.

(3) Next, as illustrated in FIG. 12A(2), the partial component mountingsections 101A and 101A of the two partial flexible printed circuitboards 104 a are combined and aligned to configure a lower componentmounting section.

For example, the alignment is performed using the alignment targets 129and 130 respectively formed on the partial flexible printed circuitboard 104 a and the support plate 5 such that the alignment targets 129and 130 can match with each other. The alignment targets 129 and 130 areguide holes or alignment marks formed with high accuracy and formed inthe same manner as described in the first embodiment. FIG. 14A is a planview of the partial flexible printed circuit boards 104 a aligned on thesupport plate 5. As illustrated in FIG. 14A, the alignment target 129 ofthe partial flexible printed circuit board 104 a matches with thealignment target 130 of the support plate 5.

Further, as an alternative alignment method, without using the alignmenttargets 129 and 130, the alignment may be performed by image-recognizingthe positions of predetermined lands (for example, lands 1 aeillustrated in FIG. 14A) in the left and right two partial flexibleprinted circuit boards 104 a and positioning them to be in apredetermined position relationship.

(4) Next, the aligned two flexible printed circuit boards. 104 a areplaced on the support plate 5 and fixed by thermocompression bonding orthe like. The support plate 5 supports at least the lower componentmounting section of the partial flexible printed circuit boards 104 a.

A lower flexible printed circuit board 131 illustrated in FIG. 12A(3) isobtained through the processes up to this point.

(5) Next, as illustrated in FIG. 12B(4), the partial component mountingsections 101A and 101A of the two partial flexible printed circuitboards 104 b are combined and aligned to configure an upper componentmounting section.

For example, the alignment is performed using alignment targetsrespectively formed on the partial flexible printed circuit board 104 band the anisotropic conductive film (ACF) 98 such that the alignmenttargets can match with each other. As an alternative alignment method,the alignment may be performed by image-recognizing the positions ofpredetermined lands (for example, lands 1 ae illustrated in FIG. 14B) inthe left and right two partial flexible printed circuit boards 104 b andpositioning them to be in a predetermined position relationship.

(6) Next, the aligned two flexible printed circuit boards 104 b areattached and fixed onto the anisotropic conductive film 98 (for example,a thickness of 50 μm). The anisotropic conductive film 98 supports atleast the upper component mounting section of the partial flexibleprinted circuit boards 104 b.

At this point, ANISOLM AC-200 (available from Hitachi Chemical Co.,Ltd.) of a high-heat resistance specification was used as theanisotropic conductive film 98 under the assumption that a reflowprocess that is a high temperature process is performed when theelectronic component 107 is mounted.

An upper flexible printed circuit board 132 illustrated in FIG. 12B(5)is obtained through the processes up to this point.

(7) Next, as illustrated in FIG. 14B, the upper flexible printed circuitboard 132 is aligned with the lower flexible printed circuit board 131.The alignment is performed such that the upper component mountingsection of the upper flexible printed circuit board 132 is positioneddirectly on the lower component mounting section of the lower flexibleprinted circuit board 131. For example, the alignment is preferablyperformed such the alignment target 129 of the lower flexible printedcircuit board 131 can match with the alignment target 130 of the upperflexible printed circuit board 132.

(8) Next, after the upper flexible printed circuit board 132 is placedon the lower flexible printed circuit board 131, heating andpressurizing are performed. Here, heating and pressurizing have beenperformed for 5 seconds under the condition of 220° C. in temperatureand 4 MPa in pressure. As a result, as illustrated in FIG. 12B(6), theanisotropic conductive film 98 is melt to become an anisotropicconductive film 99 that fills the step via 9 of the partial flexibleprinted circuit board 104 b and attaches the upper flexible printedcircuit board 132 to the lower flexible printed circuit board 131. Asillustrated in FIG. 12B(6), interlayer conduction is obtained by theconductive particles 99 a between the land 1 a of the partial flexibleprinted circuit board 104 a and the step via 9 of the partial flexibleprinted circuit board 104 b. That is, the present process produces thecomponent mounting section 101 which includes the upper componentmounting section and the lower component mounting section and in whichthe land 1 a of the lower component mounting section is electricallyconnected with the land 1 a of the upper component mounting sectionpositioned directly thereon through the conductive particles 99 a andthe step via 9.

(9) Next, an unnecessary area such as the area 104B is removed using amold or the like, so that the flexible printed circuit board 106illustrated in FIG. 10 is obtained.

Thereafter, as described with reference to FIG. 11, the electroniccomponent 107 such as the sensor module is mounted on the flexibleprinted circuit board 106. In the present embodiment, since theanisotropic conductive film 98 of the high-heat resistance specificationis used, the electronic component has been mounted by the reflowprocess.

In the case of using a general anisotropic conductive film that does nothave the high-heat resistance specification, if the high temperatureprocess such as the reflow process is used, the process temperatureexceeds a heat-resistance temperature of the anisotropic conductivefilm. Thus, in this case, it is necessary to use a method of mountingthe electronic component at a relatively low temperature. For example,an ultrasonic connection technique may be used. In this technique, thepin 107 a is connected with the land 1 a such that gold plating or thelike is performed on the pin 107 a and the land 1 a, the electroniccomponent 107 is placed on the flexible printed circuit board 106, andthen plating metal is heated by ultrasonic vibration.

Further, the step via 9 may be a filled via, that is, a step via holefilled with a conductor. FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view of a flexibleprinted circuit board in which a filed via 97 is formed on the upperflexible printed circuit board 132. With such a filled via structure,flatness in the back surface of the partial flexible printed circuitboard 104 b (a lower side in FIG. 15) improves. For this reason, as canbe seen from FIG. 15, it is possible to increase the number of theconductive particles 99 a that are present between an open surface 97 aof the filled via 97 and the land 1 a of the lower flexible printedcircuit board 131 directly below the open surface of the field via. As aresult, connection reliability of an interlayer conduction path canimprove. Further, as a method of forming the filled via 97, a via fillplating technique using a plating solution containing a special additiveor a technique of filling a step via hole with a conductive paste may beused.

Further, in the present embodiment, the component mounting section hasbeen divided into two layers including upper and lower layers, but thepresent invention is not limited thereto. The flexible printed circuitboard may be configured by laminating three or more partial flexibleprinted circuit boards.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the same effectas in the first embodiment is obtained. Further, by employing thelaminate structure for the component mounting section, the number ofpartial component mounting sections 101A increases, leading to adecrease in the number of wirings formed in one partial componentmounting section, which results in a reduction in the wiring density. Asa result, a failure caused by formation of fine wirings can decrease byhalf. In actual manufacturing, since indefective partial flexibleprinted circuit boards that are cut out from a plurality of sheets canbe combined, the yield can increase further.

The second embodiment according to the present invention has beendescribed above, but the structure of the flexible printed circuit boardaccording to the present invention is not limited to the aboveembodiments.

The number of flexible cable sections and the direction extending fromthe component mounting section are not limited to the above describedembodiment.

Further, without disposing the connection section 3 (103), aconfiguration in which an additional component mounting section (forexample, on which a semiconductor integrated circuit processing a signalof the sensor, module mounted on the component mounting section 1(101),is mounted) may be integrally connected with the flexible cable sectionmay be used.

Further, the interlayer conduction path for obtaining interlayerconduction is not limited to the step via but may be a different type ofvia or a through via. Those who skilled in the art can expect anadditional effect or various modifications of the present invention, butaspects of the present invention are not limited to the above describedembodiments. Various additions, changes, and partial deletions can bemade in a range not departing the conceptual spirit and purpose of thepresent invention derived from matters set forth in claims andequivalents.

DESCRIPTION OF LETTERS OR NUMERALS

-   1, 41, 101 component mounting section-   1A, 101A partial component mounting section-   1 a, 1 ae, 41 a land-   1 b, 41 b inner land-   2, 42, 102 flexible cable section-   3, 43, 103 connection section-   3 a, 43 a, 103 a terminal-   4,4A, 104 a, 104 b, 104 partial flexible printed circuit board-   48, 104B area-   5 support plate-   5 a insulating film-   5 b adhesive material layer-   6, 44, 106, 144 flexible printed circuit board-   7, 45, 107 electronic component-   7 a, 45 a, 107 a pin-   8, 46, 108 wiring-   9, 47 step via-   10, 48, 100, 148 sheet-   11, 21 flexible insulating base material-   12, 13, 22 copper foil-   14 dual-side copper-clad laminated sheet-   15A. 15B plating resist layer-   16, 17, 27 electrolyte copper plating layer-   18, 19 conformal mask-   20 dual-side circuit base material-   23 single-side cooper-clad laminated sheet-   24 adhesive material layer-   25 multi-layer circuit base material-   26 step via hole-   28 outer layer pattern-   29, 30, 129, 130 alignment target-   97 filled via-   97 a open surface-   98 anisotropic conductive film-   99 anisotropic conductive layer-   99 a conductive particles-   131 lower flexible printed circuit board-   132 upper flexible printed circuit board

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of manufacturing a flexibleprinted circuit board that includes a component mounting section formounting an electronic component and a plurality of flexible cablesextending in different directions from the component mounting sectionand extending in different directions from one another, comprising:manufacturing a plurality of partial flexible printed circuit boards ina predetermined sheet, each of the partial flexible printed circuitboard including a partial component mounting section formed by dividingthe component mounting section into a predetermined number of parts anda flexible cable extending from the partial component mounting section,the flexible cable being one of the plurality of flexible cables;cutting an area including the partial flexible printed circuit boardfrom the sheet; after cutting the area from the sheet, performing analignment of the predetermined number of partial flexible printedcircuit boards such that the predetermined number of partial componentmounting sections are combined to configure the component mountingsection for mounting an electronic component; and after the alignment,fixing the predetermined number of aligned partial flexible printedcircuit boards to a flexible support plate such that the predeterminednumber of aligned partial flexible printed circuit boards are arrangedadjacent to each other.
 2. The method of manufacturing the flexibleprinted circuit board according to claim 1, wherein the alignmentincludes the steps of: forming alignment targets in the partial flexibleprinted circuit board and the support plate, respectively;image-recognizing the alignment targets; and adjusting positions of thepartial flexible printed circuit boards in such a manner that thealignment target of the partial flexible printed circuit board matcheswith the alignment target of the support plate, using the result of theimage-recognition.
 3. The method of manufacturing the flexible printedcircuit board according to claim 2, wherein the alignment target of thepartial flexible printed circuit board is formed with reference to aposition of a predetermined land of the partial component mountingsection by recognizing the predetermined land.
 4. The method ofmanufacturing the flexible printed circuit board according to claim 1,wherein the alignment includes the steps of: image-recognizing apredetermined land of the partial component mounting section; andadjusting relative positions of the predetermined number of partialflexible printed circuit boards with reference to a position of theland.
 5. The method of manufacturing the flexible printed circuit boardaccording to claim 1, wherein an aramid resin film having an adhesivelayer is used for the support plate.
 6. A flexible printed circuitboard, comprising: a predetermined number of individual partial flexibleprinted circuit boards each of which includes a partial componentmounting section formed by dividing a component mounting section formounting an electronic component into a predetermined number of partsand a flexible cable extending from the partial component mountingsection; and a flexible support plate which fixes individually thepredetermined number of partial flexible printed circuit boards in sucha manner that the predetermined number of partial component mountingsections are combined to configure the component mounting section andthat the flexible cables of the predetermined number of partial flexibleprinted circuit board extend in different directions from the componentmounting section and extend in different directions from one another. 7.The flexible printed circuit board according to claim 6, wherein thesupport plate comprises an aramid resin film having an adhesive layer.8. A flexible printed circuit board, comprising: a predetermined numberof individual partial flexible printed circuit boards each of whichincludes a partial component mounting section formed by dividing acomponent mounting section for mounting an electronic component into apredetermined number of parts and a flexible cable extending from thepartial component mounting section and extending in different directionsfrom one another; and a flexible support plate which fixes individuallythe predetermined number of partial flexible printed circuit boards insuch a manner that the predetermined number of partial componentmounting sections are combined to configure the component mountingsection and that the flexible cables of the predetermined number ofpartial flexible printed circuit board extend in different directionsfrom the component mounting section and extend in different directionsfrom one another; wherein a connection section having a plurality ofterminals is provided at a leading end of the flexible cable; thepartial component mounting section includes a plurality of lands; theflexible cable has a plurality of wirings that electrically connect theland with the terminal.